


kindness burns like ice

by midnightandmuffins



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo, The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Acts of Kindness, Children, F/M, Family, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Kanej - Freeform, Kindness, Mistaken for Being in a Relationship, Post-Book 2: Crooked Kingdom, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Trauma, Waffles, kaz opening up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:01:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27987360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightandmuffins/pseuds/midnightandmuffins
Summary: “Are you a tsaritsa, a princess?” the little girl asked Inej.“Not really, milaya.”“You could say that she’s a tsaritsa of the sea,” Kaz replied.“Oh. Are you her tsarevich then?”Kaz almost choked on air. Being asked whether he was Inej’s ‘prince’ was not one of the experiences that he had expected to have in his lifetime.orKaz and Inej meet a little girl on the street who's lost and alone. Kaz has a heart, no matter how small and starved (Inej is convinced he does), and she shows him how to use it.
Relationships: Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Comments: 4
Kudos: 98





	kindness burns like ice

**Author's Note:**

> just a fluffy kanej piece. hope you like it! there are some ravkan words used in this fic so if you can't understand them from the context of the story, there is a glossary in the end notes. constructive criticism is appreciated!

“Waffles. You want... waffles.”

Inej looked at Kaz as he sat at his desk, gloved hand poised over some (probably illegal) document. She was sitting on his window sill and the feeling of comfort it gave her after three months at sea, was beyond comparison.

“Yes Kaz, I would like some waffles.”

The Wraith had docked at the harbour a few hours ago and Kaz had been the first one to know of its arrival. Obviously, he hadn’t gone to meet her at the docks, that would have insinuated that he placed importance on Inej’s arrival when he very obviously didn’t. He only placed importance on her safety and life and her happiness and-- he decided not to continue down that line of thought.

The matter at hand was that the first words that Inej Ghafa had spoken to him upon her arrival in Ketterdam, were to express her desire for dessert.

“I assume that it is difficult to find waffles at sea.”

“You assume correctly.”

“I know a bakery not very far away.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dirtyhands walked along the streets and the Wraith followed, sometimes on foot and sometimes through the sky. Kaz knew that she was somewhere near and despite his aversion to ‘trust’, he trusted that she would be by his side when he looked.

“Where is the bakery?” 

Inej had come up beside him and they were walking in step with each other.

“Not very fa--”

Kaz was cut off by the sound of a whimpering child at his side and he jolted violently in surprise. The girl was around six years old, with red pigtails coming apart from wear and tear. She looked to be Ravkan and, to Kaz’s abject horror, was clutching his cane, tears streaming down her face in crystal rivulets.

The child had clearly been cared for. Her pigtails had been tied a few days ago at the most and her clothes seemed to be in good condition. But honestly, Kaz didn’t care.

No child had ever approached him before. Hell, most adults ran at the sight of his approach. This was definitely new.

“Don’t touch the cane.”

He was unsure of what to address the girl as. ‘Kid’? ‘Child’? None of those made sense. He shook the girl off and continued walking. 

It was only a few seconds before he realised that his spider wasn’t with him.

He turned around, only to see that Inej was crouched by the little girl’s side, appearing to be _communicating_ with the thing. It was horrifying. He walked back to her to hopefully stop the child from conning her into parting with her kruge.

“Where is your _madraya_ , _milaya_? Or your parents?”

“I don’t have parents.” The child seemed to be holding back tears.

Inej put an arm around the girl.

“Do you have a home?”

“ _Da_ , yes. My brother takes care of me.”

“Where’s your home?”

“I think.. I think it is by a market. There is a market and a place where big boats come from the sea.”

The child’s Kerch was rather broken, and Kaz could tell that she had obviously not spent a lot of time in Ketterdam. Inej and she seemed to be speaking in a mixture of Kerch and Ravkan.

Inej turned away from the child and looked towards Kaz. 

“I want to bring her back to her home.”

“Don’t you want waffles?”

Inej looked at him and blinked. Twice.

“Kaz, a child’s safety means more to me than waffles. You can get them if you want them that badly.”

“I’ve never expressed a desire for waffles before, so I’ll go with you.”

The three of them began walking towards the docks.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What’s your name, _milaya?”_

“ _E’ya_ Anastasia.”

“Anastasia. That’s a beautiful name.”

The two of them talked about family and food and comfort and Kaz couldn’t help but feel a little out of place. Not that he would have wanted to join in anyway, but it was slightly wounding to be unable to communicate with them. He felt strangely lonely, but in a bad way.

“Are you a _tsaritsa_ , a princess?” the little girl asked Inej.

“Not really, _milaya_.”

“You could say that she’s a _tsaritsa_ of the sea,” Kaz replied.

“Oh. Are you her _tsarevich_ then?”

Kaz almost choked on air. Being asked whether he was Inej’s ‘prince’ was not one of the experiences that he wished to have in his lifetime. He looked away. What he heard next was unexpected.

“He could be, if he wanted to, but sometimes he gets scared. I get scared too, _milaya_. I think we both have to learn that it’s okay to be scared sometimes.”

He caught Inej’s eye but didn’t have the words to describe what he saw there. Acceptance? Longing? Pain? 

He didn’t exactly know, but he could definitely see the fire. Always the fire.

They continued walking.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

“ _Da!_ That is my home! Right there!”

A clean, sparsely furnished hut stood before them, weathering the salty breeze from the sea. It was extremely tiny, fitting about four people at the most, but it was her home.

“ _Bruthye!_ Are you home?”

No answer. 

“Perhaps he’s out, _milaya_. Don’t worry.”

“Ana! Where have you been?”

A male voice cried out from behind them and the three of them turned around to see a tall dark boy, probably around fifteen years old, with a baby on his hip running towards them. A girl of around nine years of age dashed along behind him. He threw his arms around Anastasia and all four of them hugged each other.

“Don’t ever go anywhere alone again, _lapushka_. I’ve been looking for you for ages!”

“I’m sorry, I won’t ever ever ever do it again!” Anastasia had tears streaming down her face and she was hugging her brother with every bit of force she could muster.

The boy stood up and walked towards Inej.

“Did you help her? Ah, _spasibo_ , thank you so much, we’re new here and I saw her missing and I didn’t know where to go, who to ask, if you hadn’t--”

“It’s alright, she’s back now.”

Inej’s smile was soft and gentle and for a second Kaz wished that she was looking at him instead of at the boy. It was a stupid thought, really. But Inej was a goddess, and if he had anything to say about it, the saints she worshipped should have been the ones worshipping her.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Jurid and these are Anastasia, Pretya and Milana.”

The boy looked fondly at the children and Kaz thought that he looked more like a father than he did a brother.

“Do you take care of all of them by yourself?

“Yes. Our mother passed away when… when I was just a kid. And papa was never really around much. We left Ravka a few months ago when he disappeared.”

Yes, Kaz could tell that the boy’s father wasn’t exactly a model parent. All of the children had hair of different colours and while that might have been a coincidence, he didn’t think it was. The world was cruel to those who deserved it the least.

Inej looked strangely vulnerable. She, of all people, understood the necessity of a good family and the heartache of those who were too young finding out how cruel the world really was. She moved closer to Kaz, never too close to touch though, and seemed to find comfort in his presence. He could never fathom why he would be comforting, but he allowed the feeling of safety to wash over him anyway.

Jurid, despite being younger than him, reminded Kaz way too much of Jordie.

Kaz cleared his throat. 

“You are very brave, Jurid. You all are.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour later they had bought the family enough food for a week, albeit grudgingly on Kaz’s part, and made their way back to the Slat. Inej was on his windowsill, he was at his desk. 

They were two metres apart and all was well in the world.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next time Inej came to Ketterdam, she paid Jurid’s family a visit. When she got to their house, she realised that all of their furniture had been replaced, their walls were newly painted and that the children had new clothes and ample food. She didn’t have to ask to know where their good fortune had come from.

“Kaz.”

“Wraith.”

She sat on his windowsill again, swinging her legs out the window as he did paperwork by the light of a candle.

“There is goodness in your heart.”

Kaz looked up at her and his expression was strangely vulnerable. Inej walked up to him and stood on the other side of the desk. Kaz stood as well.

“I’m a monster and I wish to stay a monster.”

“Demons have hearts too.”

“How would you know?”

“I’ve seen a part of yours and hope to see it all one day, if we’re ready.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, Kaz cleared the papers from half of his workspace and Inej sat there, her legs swinging as she faced the window with her back to Kaz. 

Kaz worked by the light of his flickering candle through the night, his bare pinky intertwined with Inej’s like a promise.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed the fic! i've always wanted to write about kaz and inej meeting a child cos i thought it would be so soft and adorable haha... two metres is roughly equal to six feet, btw. also, all ravkan words are taken from 'ravkan language' under the grishaverse wiki so as far as i know, they are all actual ravkan words from the original books and hence i lay no claim to them. any remaining mistakes are my own.
> 
> glossary (definitions taken from the wiki):  
> Anastasia - name inspired by Sankta Anastasia from king of scars  
> Jurid - name partially inspired by Sankt Juris from king of scars  
> bruthye - brother  
> da - yes  
> e'ya - i am  
> lapushka - darling  
> madraya - mother  
> milaya - sweet girl  
> spasibo - thank you  
> tsarevich - prince  
> tsaritsa - ruler, queen, female tsar (i take it in this context to mean princess)
> 
> please do leave kudos and constructive criticism!


End file.
